Full Tilt CEO Ray Bitar bailed

Full Tilt Poker CEO Ray Bitar has been freed on bail. The 40-year-old from California agreed to post $2 million in property to ensure he returns to U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

US authorities had rebuffed Bitar's first bid for bail on Friday, arguing that he was a flight risk. The US Attorney's Office agreed yesterday to an “enhanced” bail package that sees Bitar post a $2.5m bond, surrender his passport and refrain from travelling anywhere apart from New York and California and to submit to in-home electronic monitoring.

Bitar was arrested at New York's JFK Airport a week ago and later pleaded not guilty to federal charges at a hearing in Manhattan. He faces a maximum of 145 years in prison if convicted on all nine counts.

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Tuesday is the deadline for all working Americans to have submitted their income tax returns to the federal government and Juicy Stakes and Intertops Poker are set to mark this annual occasion by holding a special freeroll competition featuring a $1,000 top prize.

“We run a lot of higher stakes tournaments for our more hard-core players,” said Intertops’ poker manager. “But since our network is generally pretty soft, we created this series to give less competitive players a shot at winning.”